Nintendo is Eyeing Up Film Production

According to a recent interview by the Asahi Shimbun with Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima, the company’s new console – the NX – won’t be the replacement for its existing consoles, the Wii U and 3DS. Confirmed to be releasing in March 2017, Kimishima described the console as “something very new” as well as a “new way of playing games.”

Following recent announcements, Nintendo has seemed committed to expanding its brand for quite some time. Having made first venture into mobile gaming with its first smartphone app Miitomo, and the new console – the NX – confirmed to be coming next year, a recent interview with Tatsumi Kimishima has suggested the company now has movie production on its mind.

Translated by NeoGAF user GSR, the Nintendo president said the company “must invest heavily in new areas such as film production moving forward.”

When asked if this meant movies, Kimishima responded that “the most common meaning is films”, but that the company was also open to other options, like “video content,” mentioning that Nintendo was currently in talks with “a number of partners.”

“I think we’ll be able to finalize something in the not-too-distant future” he said.

He elaborated that a partnership with Hollywood “could be an option”, but the company would not be limited to such a partnership. Referencing 1993’s less-than-terrific Super Mario Bros. movie, Kimishima another live action film would be unlikely. He did, however, voice the company’s desire to create animated films similar to Disney and Pixar.

“We have a strong stable of IP, so we’d like to be able to do something like them. So we’ll keep that in mind as we work towards making this a reality.” Kimishima said.

Kimishima also stated that he’d “like to use IPs that are really quite popular”, suggesting that we could be seeing films for beloved franchises such as Donkey Kong and Zelda in the future. Whilst the Nintendo president didn’t go into detail about which films would be likely to appear, he did acknowledge that there was a “strong demand” for Zelda film. Nevertheless, he assured the company would “make something everyone can enjoy.”

As many of Nintendo’s biggest IPs came into being on platforms from the 1980’s-1990’s, it appears that younger audiences are beginning to associate characters such as Mario and Link with the franchises they came from. Kimishima expressed during the company’s Third Quarter Financial Results Briefing that the company wants “everyone become familiar with our IP by reaching as many people as possible from an early age within their daily lives.”

Having recently confirmed a Nintendo Theme Park to come in 2020, Nintendo intends to “spark our consumers’ interest in playing Nintendo game systems and encouraging continued growth of our games business.”

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Charlie is a platforming romantic from England, that still speaks in a fashion that died with the Elizabethan era. Having been gaming since the days of Crash Bandicoot, he champions the Playstation, and is only a little bit embarassed that Super Mario Land keeps spelling his defeat.